Last week, we looked at the words daran and dran. You have likely also seen the word ran, which is a colloquial German adverb meaning “up to it,” “over to,” or simply “near,” depending on the sentence.

Das macht ihm Spaß: direkt ran an den Schaltkasten.

That's fun for him: directly to the control panel.

Caption 2, Deutsche Welle: Lieber Ausbildung als Studium

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Wir müssen noch näher ran. -Ja, ja.

We have to get even closer to it. -Yes, yes.

Caption 46, Abenteuer Nordsee Unter Riesenhaien und Tintenfischen - Part 1

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Schön eng dran bleiben, ja, schön! -Ran an den Ball! -Lass ihn nicht durch!

Stay nice and close to it, yes, nice! -Up to the ball! -Don't let him through!

Caption 52, Die Pfefferkörner: Eigentor

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Just like daran and dran, you'll often see ran in verbs.

Lass sie näher rankommen, damit wir sie beobachten können.

Let them come closer so we can observe them.

Caption 67, Es war einmal... der Weltraum: Die Saurier

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Rauf und runter are colloquial German adverbs meaning “up and down.” They are often used together to express movement in both directions.

Es ging rauf und runter und wieder rauf und runter.

He went up and down and up and down again.

Caption 29, Piggeldy und Frederick: Fahren Achterbahn

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Und weiter geht's: rauf und runter.

And on we go: up and down.

Caption 26, Ab in den Urlaub: So kommt der Koffer in den Flieger

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While "to bring someone down" can have negative connotations in English, the German verbs runterkommen and runterbringen can colloquially mean to calm down or help someone relax.

Wenn alles in mir laut ist und ich mich selbst nicht hör bringst du mich wieder runter.

When everything inside me is loud and I don't hear myself you bring me back down [calm me down].

Captions 5-7, Adel Tawil: 1000 gute Gründe

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Further Learning

You'll find many more examples with ran, rauf, and runter on Yabla German!